One of my friend who is a cop told me last night he got in trouble because he punches a black man in the face. Let's call the black man Mr X.

Mr X was selling cocaine on the street, my friend caught him and tried to grab the little plastic bag Mr X was holding in his hands.
But he tried to swallow the plastic bag, my friend "struggled" Mr X and shouted at him not to fuç%ing swallow the thing. He did not give a damn about it and keep on being violent. So my friend punched him in the face and Mr X fainted...

Now, my friend has some troubles because of this.
Was it necessary to hit the black man ?
Is the cop racist ?
Was Mr X really violent and deserved the fist in the face ?

All of this for saying that cops in Switzerland seem to have less and less rights to use their hands or "weapons" to first protect people but also to defend themselves.

Would he have punched him if the man were Mr. T?

I really hope switzerland isn't going down the same road as the uk, where criminals have more rights then victims and police are hamstrung with red tape and quoaters, a drug dealers a drug dealer, race shouldn't come into , he stuggled and got hit that should be an end to it.

Now, my friend has some troubles because of this.

Quite right too. Unnecessary use of force, the man was knocked out, he did not feint.

Was it necessary to hit the black man ?

Absolutely not. Tests and stool capturing would have proved posession and amounts,

Is the cop racist ?

Depends on what words he used during the scuffle. I note your liberal use of the word 'black man' , are you racist ? A better word would be 'suspect'.

Was Mr X really violent and deserved the fist in the face ?

No-one deserves to be hit in the face during an arrest. The man wasn't violent , by your statements, and did not resist arrest by running away etc. Struggling in that situation is a natural reacton. Police are trained in far better techniques to arrest people. Society's Sweeney days are over.

I'm sure you would say the same if yet another man dies in police custody... the baggy does not necessarily stand the strain of being swallowed and digested...

drug dealers deserve more then a hit in the face!!

Drug dealers are only drug dealers when convicted of that offence. This Policeman was acting as Judge , Jury and executioner. This man was innocent until proven guilty.

As for drug dealers, have a look again at your local barman serving you alchohol, or the Kiosk girl selling you cigarettes. Those lovely legal taxed drugs.

Which has the greater risk ? A blow to the skull or a small chance that a small amount of cocaine will leak into the gut. It sounds like a 1-3g wrap to me. Small enough to be posession and not dealing. Nowhere near enough to kill you.

Oh, you were there, great! Please explain to me in detail what happened

On topic, hitting the guy really is not an option. Just serves them to get released faster...

To get it straight: I'm not racist at all. I wrote "black man" because racism is in question here. My friend isn't racist at all either.

The suspect didn't have enough time to run away, otherwise, I can imagine he would've run. I don't know.

I don't know how I or even you would've reacted at his place at this very moment. You don't act the same when you're under stressed, trained or not trained. The instinct takes the advantage I guess.

It's always hard to find what's right if you are not the person involved. Our reactions are all different.

All assumptions are based on the OP's tale. Of courseI was not there. This whole thread is based on hearsay.

You really need a nice middle ground. Somewhere between the UK and the US, where you can get charged for filming a cop, even if that cop is breaking the law, or assaulting someone.

HE WAS DEALING ! The cop doesn't jump on the guy and just hits him without "spying" on the suspect for a while before taking action...

This guy had already sold or will sell drugs to kids... and this is not acceptable.

Don't cops normally go round in pairs? Where was his partner?

Much as many people may like the idea of cops being able to go round beating the **** out of criminals, it starts to make it hard to see who the criminals are when a gang can go around beating people up with impunity.

You can justify your friends actions as much as you want (but deep down, your feel they were inappropriate and excessive , hence your post, else you felt it necessary to seek vindication on this forum because everybody thinks just like you and anyone with a wrap is a drug dealer and violent excessive force during arrest is justified isn't it ? Just remember, the dealer was breaking the law in your eyes, and so was the Policeman.

Exactly. If he had swallowed the bag, you simply force him to dance macarena till he throws it up again.

I don't have much experience with the big cities here (), but I have witnessed scuffles and 'situations' where cops were involved, including white, black, brown, and various shades of people in between. If anything the Swiss cops seem to avoid conflict and physical interaction as much as possible. I've not noticed anything resembling more aggressive behavior toward non-whites.


There are a lot of drug dealers here, and a lot of them are black- especially dealing coke. I know that because I have 'acquaintances' who buy their coke from the black dealers. Whatever. If I was a drug dealer and got nabbed and was a minority I would play the race card, regardless of the circumstances. That's survival, right or wrong. So is punching a potentially dangerous person resisting arrest.


In the U.S. I've been in the wrong place at the wrong time and found myself face down with a knee and a shotgun in my back in about the time it takes to fart. I had done nothing, but given the circumstances I understand how the cops approached the situation. Lost a few hours at the station, have a story to tell, and honestly got a new respect for police out of it. If I had been who they thought I was, one or more of them might not have gone home at all that night. If we take away the right of police to think for themselves and act accordingly, we will end up with a useless money drain, as evidenced in the recent thread discussing U.K. police.

By 'accordingly', Hopefully you mean 'according to the law' and the training we have invested on them ?

MInd you I did have to chuckle when the Police were told off for hearding demonstrators towards the water cannons a few years back - and then letting rip.

I am of the view that a more draconian police force is better than a toothless one.

In this case, whether the guy was black, brown, white or blue - it makes no difference. Was it morally right for the cop to knock him out? No. Do we want drug dealers? No.

dumb question maybe, but why did he punch him?
I mean I have seen a similar case. The policemen (two) were quite "violent" in throwing the quy to the ground, struggling to prevent him from swallowing the little balloon and getting handcuffs on. But punching in the face is not the way to go for a cop to control a situation.
and yes, where was his partner?